NZ Comedy Awards - winners

The remarkable success of
local comedians overseas was recognised at the New Zealand
comedy awards held in Auckland at the weekend - as was the
growing support of media for the local comedy
industry.

The NZ Comedy Guild's major award for "Best
Artist Achievement 2004" was shared by Wellington's Flight
of the Conchords (Jemaine Clement and Brett MacKenzie) and
Auckland's Benjamin Crellin.

The Conchords - nominees for
a Perrier at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe - have recently
signed a deal with a major American television
network.Crellin was recognised for making a huge success
of his comedy tour of North America - a tour which started
almost six-months ago and doesn't look like ending
soon.

Other top comedians honoured have also worked
overseas this year. The Best Male Comedian Award was shared
by Dai Henwood and Ben Hurley, and Best Female Comedian went
to Michele A'Court. All three have spent time in the last
eighteen months performing in Australia and the UK.

A new
award for comedy scriptwriting went to Jeremy Elwood,
another veteran of the international stand-up comedy
circuit. Elwood won the Windsor Castle Productions Script
Award for his short film script, "The Wager" - receiving his
$1000 cash prize on the night in briefcase filled with $5
notes.

Some comedians were recognised, not for their
international experience, but just for being international.
Andy Parsons - possibly best known in New Zealand for his
sausage commercials - won the award for "Best International
Guest" for the support and encouragement he gave the
industry during his time here for the 2004 NZ International
Comedy Festival.

Other major awards went to well-known
faces and voices: breakfast radio host Jeremy Corbett won
Best MC for the second year running; and last year's Billy T
Award winner, Justine Smith, won the award for Best Show for
her season this year at the Herald Theatre.

And National
Radio picked up the award for "Best Media Support" of local
comedy. As well as regular coverage of the industry in the
daily 4.30pm show, "What's Going On", National Radio has
established a "comedy zone" on Saturday afternoons which
features programmes like "Off the Wire" made by the
DownLowConcept, and a recent documentary series made by
Nine-to-Noon's resident wit, Te Radar.

The NZ Comedy Guild
Awards have been held annually for the past four years, and
are peer-voted by workers in the comedy industry.

FULL
LIST OF WINNERS:

THE KEVIN SMITH MEMORIAL CUP FOR BEST
ARTIST ACHIEVEMENT Flight of the Conchords / Benjamin
Crellin

BEST MALE COMEDIANBen Hurley / Dai
Henwood

BEST FEMALE COMEDIANMichele A'Court

BEST
MCJeremy Corbett

WINDSOR CASTLE PRODUCTIONS SCRIPT
AWARDJeremy Elwood

BEST NEWCOMERAndrew
Holland

BEST SHOWJustine Smith

BEST SHOW
CONCEPTThe Day Before Tomorrow (Bret Rudnick) / Mark
Scott's Sketch Show

THE ANDREW KOVACEVICH CUP FOR MOST
OFFENSIVE GAG Gish

BEST MEDIA SUPPORTNational
Radio

BEST COMEDY VENUEThe Classic Comedy & Bar,
Auckland

BEST INTERNATIONAL GUESTAndy Parsons

MOST
IMPROVED COMEDIANGish

BEST INDUSTRY FRIENDBen
Hurley

THE PRESIDENT'S MEDAL (for outstanding service to
comedy) Terry Williams

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